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The best leaders know how to communicate clearly and persuasively. How do you stack up?

If you read nothing else on communicating effectively, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you express your ideas with clarity and impact―no matter what the situation.

Leading experts such as Deborah Tannen, Jay Conger, and Nick Morgan provide the insights and advice you need to:

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 11 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.

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Harvard Business Review’s 10 Must Reads on Communication features a compendium of research-laden articles from the flagship publisher’s archives on the topic of communication in the world of business. HBR’s aggregation includes pieces pulled from across the span of a little over a decade from Deborah Tannen’s The Power of Talk originally published in 1995 to Nick Morgan’s How to Become an Authentic Speaker originally published in 2008. While the scope of authorship is relatively narrow in terms of the snapshot in time that is represented by the articles contained therein, its authors represent a wide range of professional capacities including two CEOs, six professors, a sales executive, a communications consultant, and a venture capitalist.

Four of the selected articles focus primarily on the art of communicating persuasively. These articles include Gary Williams and Robert Miller’s Change the Way You Persuade, Robert Cialdini’s Harnessing the Science of Persuasion, Jay Conger’s The Necessary Art of Persuasion, and Kimberly Elsbach’s How to Pitch A Brilliant Idea. Williams and Miller argue that “executives tend to make important decisions in predictable ways…and knowing their preferences for hearing or seeing certain types of information at specific stages in their decision-making process can substantially improve your ability to tip the outcome your way.” In essence, the takeaway is that what matters most is having the right information at the right time for the right person. As inferred by his article’s title, Cialdini writes from the perspective of psychological research which suggests that “there are six basic laws of winning friends and influencing people.” In highlighting the data, Cialdini is quick to note that psychological manipulation through communication techniques is not only inappropriate but ineffective in the long-term. “…the rules of ethics apply to the science of social influence just as they do to any other technology.” Conger’s central thesis is that times have changed and the new corporate reality is that “work today gets done in an environment where people don't just ask ‘What should I do?’ but ‘Why should I do it?’” Thus, the communication of leadership must appeal to a compelling motivator within their subordinates’ culture. Finally, Elsbach identifies three creative stereotypes—coined as artists, showrunners, and neophytes—in which “catchers” traditionally place those who are making a pitch. Elsbach highlights the reality that “Research suggests that humans can categorize others in less than 150 milliseconds. Within 30 minutes, they've made lasting judgments about your character.” As a result, persuading the adoption of one’s idea takes forethought into how to leverage the most effective stereotype for the circumstance in order to get the desired outcome. The “pitcher’s” art of communication can make or break any given proposal.

In an intriguing article highlighting the dangers of intra-organizational silence, authors Perlow and Williams espouse the need for business cultures to be marked by a high valuation of open dialogue. As the article unfolds, we read about the high cost of silence in organizations and that “behind failed products, broken processes, and mistaken decisions are people who chose to hold their tongues rather than to speak up.”

In The Power of Talk author Deborah Tannen holds that “any way of speaking could be perfect for communicating with one person in one situation and disastrous with someone else in another.” As a result, Tannen outlines various circumstances and what methods of communication might prove most effective in each.

Morgan’s How to Become an Authentic Speaker and Denning’s Telling Tales share some common ground in that they both highlight the value of appealing to people’s hearts through communication that echoes sentiments of a more personal nature. Morgan, a multi-decade communications coach, encourages readers to “Focus not on what you want to say but on why you’re giving the speech and how you feel about that.” Similarly, Denning warns communicators about the dangers of a boring message. “Analysis might excite the mind, but it hardly offers a route to the heart-and that's where we must go to motivate people.

Rounding out the collection are Weeks’ article on Taking the Stress Out of Stressful Conversations and Hamm’s The Five Messages Leaders Must Manage. In the former, Weeks points to—among many other things—the danger found in the gap between communication and intent. Oftentimes the message gets lost, on either end, when intentions fail to match up with expectations. As a result, good communicators find the right tools to address conversations with heightened tension. Finally, The Five Messages Leaders Must Manage as outlined by John Hamm are 1) organizational structure and hierarchy, 2) financial results, 3) the leader’s sense of his or her job, 4) time management, and 5) corporate culture. Hamm’s premise centers around the idea that “By recognizing the impact of clear and direct communication and seeking feedback from their teams, leaders leverage, rather than abuse, their positional power.”

All in all, HBR's 10 Must Reads on Communication is a compelling read with enough substance to engage any communicator with tools to more effectively lead and manage the delivery of key messaging to their audience. Each article, on its own, delivers substantive commentary on the art of communication. However, the real value in this collection is not only finding what works in your particular circumstance but also curating elements from within each of the articles to craft a composite that’s tailored for maximum results in your leadership context.

For anyone interested in improving their communication skills, this is the book for you. I am interested in switching from Finance to Human Resource and this book was a great resource. The books detail various ways to improve how you communicate, with co-workers, managers, direct reports, etc. The book is an easy read and not too many pages; you can finish the book within 2-3 hours easily. It is best to take your time and read it carefully; it is important not to pass up any important information. Great book and will be a resource for years to come.

Awesome book, I was looking for a book on communication and I am glad I came across this one. This book explains persuasion and the importance of establishing rapport with colleagues to promote ideas. Will read over many times.